Nations with the highest unemployment rate

Note: Zimbabwe has not been ranked as the unemployment rate for 2010 are not available for the country.

Unemployment rate: 33.8%Total unemployment rate: 65.2%

According to a study by 24/7 Wall St, Macedonia in southeastern Europe tops the list of 15 countries with the highest unemployment rates.

Macedonia hit hard by the economic recession in 2009 has the highest unemployment rate of 33.8 per cent. The unemployment rate is 65.2 per cent including the disabled and elderly people.

Macedonia is a small nation with a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $9.4 billion.

Today, about 40 per cent of the people in Macedonia live in rural areas and their income depends on crop and livestock production.

The unemployment rate refers to those who earlier had a job, are still of employable age but have lost their job. The total figure includes all those who are of employable age but are either engaged otherwise, that is studying, or are unlikely to look for a job (housewives), or suffer from severe deformity and are not looking for a job.

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Image: Unemployed workers spend the night in front of the Macedonian Parliament during a protest.Photographs: Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters.